retail merchandiser

brand manager

packer

project designer

financial analyst

Spin Master

Spinmaster is a fun and energetic place to work, SM is situated at the forefront of toy design and innovation. Its employees are highly creative and driven in all aspects of toy design, branding and development. 
  I was lucky enough to be with Spin since the beginning of the Los Angels office I was fortunate to help start the Los Angeles office back in 2006, So in the early years we were lean and mean...We had to be resourceful...We did whatever it takes to get things done!
  Many influential toy brands came out of our hard work. We set the trend for years to come, the company culture we created is work hard play hard environment (and that's what we did)! 
  The environment is casual in manner of dress but don't let that fool you, there are hard working teams developing evergreen brands and its own IP to drive the company forward at a very fast pace.
 The hardest part of the job is dealing with many different personalities and managing their expectation's, Sometimes direction is vague so you really need to read between the lines.
  The most enjoyable part of the job is the relationships you form with the staff other employees. There is a sense that everyone is in it together, all the departments follow the same schedule so you have a sense of comradery as you push through various deadlines.
  The most important thing I learned it to be flexible and versatile at Spin you must be able to zig & zag at a moments notice!
 Oh and keep your passport up to date, overseas travel can be frequent and at a moments notice.

No onboarding. Sink or swim in a burning boat. Start with a morning meeting and then join a lot of other meetings all day. Very personality driven as opposed to process driven. Lots of meetings and outside expectations, but less time to do actual work. Management seems to shift every few months. The department head to hired me in - quit 10 days later. My job description was thrown out the window about two weeks in and we abandoned all pretext of doing real research or follow-up research. No direction for 6 months. New department head came in with zero continuity or oversight.

I will say they have some great people there, but they work so much harder than they should due to the lack of process and intra-departmental continuity. The company is desperate to instill a great working culture in the NYC office like in their Toronto and LA offices, but they keep acquiring companies, losing directors, having lay-offs... They are shooting themselves in the foot most days.

We did get to play games and help evaluate new games. And they did do a couple of nice sales trips for the entire department. And brainstorming was fun and normally done offsite. It is a toy company and it should be more fun than say a bank or marketing company. So that was nice.

The management let you have a life. No one was cruel or stupid or unreasonable, but they just had to deal with so much political nonsense it was hard to get everyone pointed in the same direction most days.

The Company offered allot of benefits for the position. It was a little to good to be true, but it was. The job offered great compensation at the time along with the flexibility from working from home. You need a strong work ethic and motivation to work from home along with dealing with Retail managers at places like Wal-Mart.

All you need to do was make a route. See 3-4 stores a day (easy) and make a effort to pull toys and gain sales. Take pictures of your work of gaining floor space like end caps or floor islands for your products. 

The hardest part of the job was the management that you work for. 

Co-workers were fun but very limited to only working in retail. There were only a few that would think outside of the box. And were use to getting nothing done and still had a job after a year of producing only the basic goals of the job requirements. 

Enjoyable part of the job was knowing I was very successful doing it.  I did it by myself for myself. It was a fun simple job that got you to meet new people. 

Expect a overall good time with this position. I'm sure management will be different by the time this position opens up again. Its a great company that's worth every bit of success you do for it. Work hard, sometimes you get lucky and when you do you look good. 

Cheers,


I recently interviewed with Spin Master, and while there were some positive aspects, the overall experience was quite disappointing.

On the plus side, the manager and another team member I interviewed with were both friendly and professional. They were genuinely interested in my background and made me feel welcomed during our discussions. Their professionalism really stood out and made the interview itself a pleasant experience.

However, the recruiting process was far from smooth. The recruiter was unresponsive and only reached out when I followed up multiple times. This lack of communication made the process unnecessarily stressful. The entire interview process was drawn out, and weeks went by without any updates on whether I would be moving forward to the next stage.

First impressions are everything, and unfortunately, Spin Master came across as overwhelmed and disorganized. Based on my experience, I did not feel that they were an employer of choice, given the communication delays and lack of clear direction during the process.

Spin Master really allowed me to grow as a leader and designer. They put me in charge of several key brands that were slated to increase the company's bottom line and become staples in the toy industry. I started out in the company being my own manager, jumping from group to group wherever they needed my expertise. I quickly got picked to join the entertainment team to produce new and interesting franchises for young boys entertainment. Having experience in creating hit television show content, characters, vehicles and stories, I was allowed to run wild with creativity and passion. I would recommend having a few years of design experience at a larger company before working at Spin Master, due to the loose structure and fast paced environment. Once they believe in you, there is so stopping you at Spin Master. I highly recommend working there!

Spin Master is an extremely unique place to work. Within the office it is a fun and friendly environment. In addition that friendliness extends past work time hours. However, on the overall structure of the company there are a few deficiencies. First of all direction from upper management is never consistent. Every month is a new strategy or direction, causing a lot of churn and back tracking. In addition, room for development and growth is very limited. After a year you will reach a plateau for development.

Working with the boys team at Spin Master had more ups than downs. The worst thing that can happen in one day, is realize that you need to cost reduce on a product but that causes you as a designer to think harder and become more creative. 

A typical day starts with you going past the security door and checking on your computer for important emails. Everyone arrives on time and has a great work ethic. Sometimes we will all eat together and go back to work. The most enjoyable part of the job would have to be creating new concepts that could or could not make it to market. Management was great, and my team was awesome to work with.

While the work itself was engaging and allowed me to develop new skills, the experience was marred by several significant issues.

The workload was overwhelming, with an extensive range of responsibilities that often felt unmanageable for the compensation offered. Many employees, including myself, frequently found ourselves working overtime without proper compensation, which contributed to a sense of burnout.

Additionally, there seemed to be a noticeable preference for white male employees in terms of promotions and opportunities. This lack of diversity in leadership roles affected team morale and created an unwelcoming atmosphere for those from underrepresented backgrounds.

Management seemed to have no experience at running a big team and because of this we had to do the same jobs over and over again. Management has no leadership or people skills and all of us were afraid to offer suggestions and when we did they said they would look into it and then we never hear back from them. I know they still have a few reps left out of the 65 we had across the country, but I don't see the department lasting the way that it is run.

...it can work out pretty good. The salary wasn't great, but work was steady and consistent. I will say, if you can't take heat, stay out of that kitchen. Like I said, once you get the flow of things, and overstand how to operate the press machine machines there, 
and get a better sense of the operation overall, you would stick around for a while, and possibly move on for another postion as such, that pays more, like I did.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail merchandiser 17 salaries reported	$17.03 per hour
Brand manager 1 salary reported	$112,500 per year
Packer 9 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Project designer 4 salaries reported	$111,125 per year
Financial analyst 1 salary reported	$85,000 per year

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